This is an especially egregious example of sexism. The article mentions that Dietrich weighed only 100 lbs. I wonder how many millions of dollars could have been saved if the space program relied on lighter but equally capable women astronauts?

Well, the space program has been 90% propaganda anyway, peopled space flight, at least at current technological levels, is just silly, and as the Mars expeditions have shown we gain a whole lot more knowledge when we work on the robotics to support the mission objective rather than putting all of that energy towards just keeping the meat alive.

Besides, so much of the 50s and 60s notion of space flight was about how studly the "pilots" were, when astronauts, at least in terms of flight controls, are almost entirely just ballistic mass. As the Soviet version of the "space shuttle" showed so clearly.

I think a lot goes back to the near beatification of JFK. NASA used the tragic death of JFK to leverage his "landing a man on the moon" speech for all it was worth.

I think LOTS of good things came from space research, but I can't help but wonder perhaps where robotics would be now if JFK had committed us to "explore the moon's surface" or some other language.

As I age, it's comical to me hear a president toss out his cause or slogan: "No child left behind" or "1,000 points of light" or "It's the economy, stupid" or whatever. If Barnum were alive today, he'd be hired by the DNC or RNC immediately.